Tier 3 Platform Engineer SME

Peraton • Chantilly, VA

3d • $135,000 - $216,000 • Onsite

About The Position

Peraton is seeking a Platform Engineer Subject Matter Expert (SME) to provide senior technical leadership for the operation, engineering, and sustainment of a mission-critical enterprise software platform supporting an Intelligence Community customer. The platform provides a standardized developer and user experience across multiple classified enclaves using a zero trust, hub-and-spoke architecture. This position is fully onsite in Chantilly, Virginia.

The SME will establish technical direction for platform operations, oversee complex engineering and sustainment work, and serve as the senior technical authority for Tier 3 escalations and major incident response. The role guides platform reliability, automation, infrastructure optimization, and operational excellence while aligning engineering solutions with enterprise architecture, security requirements, and mission needs.

The SME will also serve as a shift lead, coordinating engineering and operational work, mentoring technical personnel, and driving resolution of enterprise-wide issues. The role works with program leadership, architecture, cybersecurity, and partner organizations to keep the platform secure, resilient, and available to mission users. The schedule includes rotating shifts within a 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM, seven-day onsite coverage window, plus a shared after-hours on-call rotation.

Requirements

• Active TS/SCI clearance with Polygraph.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical field, with 12 or more years of relevant experience; an additional four years of relevant experience may substitute for a degree.
• Extensive experience engineering, operating, and sustaining production enterprise platforms using Kubernetes or Kubernetes-based container orchestration technologies.
• Extensive experience designing and supporting infrastructure in at least one major cloud environment (AWS, Azure, or a government cloud region) and hybrid cloud or on-premises environments.
• Extensive experience with infrastructure as code, configuration management, and automation technologies, including Terraform, Ansible, or similar tools.
• Experience leading design and implementation of CI/CD pipelines and secure automated deployment processes.
• Demonstrated expertise troubleshooting complex enterprise infrastructure issues across Linux systems, cloud environments, networking, container platforms, and identity and access management.
• Extensive experience leading Tier 3 technical escalations, major incident response, and root cause analysis for production enterprise systems operating under defined service levels.
• Experience establishing technical standards, engineering practices, and operational procedures for platform engineering and sustainment teams.
• Demonstrated experience providing technical leadership, mentoring engineers, and coordinating multidisciplinary technical teams.
• Experience communicating technical issues, operational risks, and recommended solutions to senior technical and program stakeholders.
• DoD 8140 / 8570 IAT Level II certification, such as Security+ CE, or ability to obtain the required certification within the established timeframe.
• Ability to work rotating shifts within the established seven-day onsite coverage window and participate in the shared after-hours on-call rotation.

Nice To Haves

• Experience providing technical leadership for enterprise platforms across multiple classification levels or security enclaves, including cross-domain data movement.
• Extensive familiarity with zero trust architecture frameworks and their implementation across enterprise cloud infrastructure.
• Experience with IT service management (ITSM) platforms, including ServiceNow.
• Experience designing or overseeing enterprise observability solutions using Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk, Elastic, or similar technologies.
• Experience leading RMF authorization support, continuous monitoring, and continuous Authority to Operate (cATO) activities.
• Advanced Kubernetes certifications, such as CKA or CKS, and/or advanced cloud professional certifications.
• Prior experience providing technical leadership on Intelligence Community or Department of Defense mission programs.

Responsibilities

• Establish technical direction and engineering standards for deployment, operation, and sustainment of enterprise platform infrastructure and shared services.
• Lead the design, implementation, and optimization of platform capabilities across hybrid cloud and on-premises environments, including Kubernetes-based container orchestration platforms.
• Provide technical oversight of infrastructure as code, configuration management, automation, and CI/CD pipeline capabilities to support secure, scalable, and repeatable deployments.
• Guide implementation and sustainment of zero trust security controls, including identity-aware access, network segmentation, and least-privilege policies.
• Oversee technical onboarding and integration of mission tenants, applications, and shared services across the enterprise platform.
• Evaluate architecture, engineering practices, and operational processes to improve availability, scalability, resiliency, security, and performance.
• Serve as senior technical escalation authority for complex incidents involving compute, storage, networking, identity, cloud infrastructure, and container orchestration.
• Lead major incident response, coordinating technical resources, engineering teams, vendors, and partner organizations to restore mission services within established service levels.
• Direct root cause analysis and corrective action for significant incidents, addressing systemic issues through engineering improvements and automation.
• Establish operational standards, technical procedures, and escalation practices to improve incident response and reduce recurring service disruptions.
• Provide technical oversight of observability capabilities, including centralized logging, metrics, alerting, dashboards, and platform health monitoring.
• Partner with cybersecurity leadership to align security controls, continuous monitoring, and technical evidence with RMF authorization and continuous ATO requirements.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to Senior and Mid-Level engineers, setting expectations for engineering quality, troubleshooting, documentation, and operational execution.
• Serve as shift lead by coordinating daily platform operations, assigning technical priorities, managing escalations, and ensuring continuity across rotating shifts.
• Coordinate with program leadership and customer stakeholders regarding platform health, operational risks, significant incidents, technical dependencies, and recommended improvements.
• Lead technical working sessions and collaborate with architecture, cybersecurity, development, and operations teams to resolve enterprise-level engineering challenges.
• Maintain and improve technical documentation, operational runbooks, incident response procedures, and knowledge management practices.
• Participate in rotating onsite shifts and the shared after-hours on-call rotation to support continuous platform operations.

Benefits

• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Life insurance
• Health savings account
• Short- and long-term disability
• Employee assistance program (EAP)
• Parental leave
• 401(k)
• Paid time off (PTO) for vacation
• Company-paid holidays
• Employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and a discretionary bonus, depending on the position.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior